The present invention relates generally to gastrointestinal procedures such as bariatric surgery. More particularly, but not exclusively, it relates to surgical devices and techniques for excising mucosa in the stomach or esophagus and/or for securing portions of the stomach and esophagus together, e.g. to reduce the size of the stomach in connection with the treatment obesity in humans.
Gastric reduction surgery is conventionally performed to restrict food intake of a patient by decreasing the size of the stomach. The objective is to limit the receptive capacity of the stomach and promote weight loss in patients with severe obesity. Various surgical techniques have been developed, such as laparoscopic banding, where a device is used to constrict a portion of the stomach, vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG), or the more invasive Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass which effects a permanent reduction in the volume of the stomach. It is desirable to develop surgical instruments and techniques that can be used to achieve gastric reduction in a minimally invasive manner. The present invention is generally directed to addressing this need, but aspects of the invention can be usefully applied in other endoscopic procedures, for example in the diagnosis or treatment of Barrett's esophagus and in the treatment of gastoresophegael reflex disease (GERD).